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Healthy Sports Parents
Every Kid Is On Their Own Timeline (with Jordan Palmer, retired NFL QB)
Season 4, Ep. 3
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Every kid develops on their own timeline. The challenge for parents is believing that when it feels like everyone else's kid is getting ahead.
Former NFL quarterback and longtime quarterback coach Jordan Palmer has worked with some of the best quarterbacks in football, including Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Trevor Lawrence. But as a dad of four, he's also navigating the same questions the rest of us are: When should we push? When should we back off? How do we help our kids build real confidence? And what happens when they just aren't ready to take that next step yet?
In this episode, Jordan and Jonathan Carone talk about why kids have to decide for themselves when they're ready to level up, how parents can support that process without pressing the button for them, and why failure and adversity are an important part of becoming a confident athlete.
They also talk about building confidence without making kids dependent on praise, celebrating the things kids can control, why winning isn't the only way to measure progress, the value of playing multiple sports, and why parents may be trying too hard to create the perfect sports journey for their kids.
Whether your kid dreams of playing in the NFL or just wants to have fun with their friends, their path belongs to them.
In this episode:
- Why every young athlete develops on a different timeline
- When parents should push and when they should wait
- Why it's your kid's "button to press"
- How to build confidence that doesn't depend on praise
- What parents and coaches should celebrate beyond goals and touchdowns
- Why failure and adversity can be good for young athletes
- The value of traditional and nontraditional sports
- Why the perfect youth sports path doesn't exist
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More from Jordan Palmer:
QB Summit: https://qbsummit.com/
Thread Performance: https://threadperformance.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanpalmer
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New episodes every Wednesday.
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More episodes
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6. Why Sports Parenting is So Dang Hard (with Dr. Curt Thompson)
01:02:36||Season 4, Ep. 6In this episode of Healthy Sports Parents, Jonathan Carone sits down with psychiatrist and author Dr. Curt Thompson to explore why sports parenting can feel so personal and why a child’s performance can bring out emotions parents never expected.Dr. Thompson explains how parents carry their own family history, insecurities, shame, and unfinished business into their children’s sports experiences, often without realizing it. They discuss why parents can deeply love their kids and still respond in unhealthy ways, how generational patterns show up on the sidelines, why praising effort matters, and how curiosity can help parents stay connected to their children regardless of what happens on the scoreboard.This conversation goes deeper than sideline behavior and serves as an invitation for sports parents to understand their own stories, recognize the patterns they’ve inherited, and consider who they are becoming while helping their kids grow through sports.In this episode:Why a child’s sports performance can feel so personal to a parentHow family-of-origin patterns influence sports parentingWhy parents sometimes repeat behaviors they experienced as kidsBreaking generational cycles without simply blaming previous generationsThe difference between praising effort and praising resultsWhy curiosity can be more valuable than evaluation after a gameHow shame and performance can become connectedWhy connection with a child matters more than the scoreboardWhat parents can learn about themselves through youth sports--------HEALTHY SPORTS PARENTING COURSEGet access at HealthySportsParenting.com.--------MORE FROM DR. THOMPSON:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curtthompsonmd/Website: https://curtthompsonmd.com/Podcast: https://www.thebeingknownpodcast.com/--------FROM OUR SPONSORS:Interested in sponsoring an episode?Hello@HealthySportsParents.com--------Get your Healthy Sports Parents shirts:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop---------Get your Weekend Playbook:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook-----------Follow us on social:https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparentshttps://www.facebook.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.threads.net/healthysportsparents
5. Youth Sports Need a Place For Every Kid (with Amanda Carey, multi-time Pro MTB Champion)
54:07||Season 4, Ep. 5Youth sports have become increasingly all-or-nothing. Make the team. Commit more time. Play at a higher level. Keep up, or eventually there may not be a place for you anymore.Amanda Carey believes there’s another way.Amanda is the President of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) and a multi-time professional mountain biking champion. In this conversation, she talks with Jonathan Carone about what happens when youth sports make belonging the starting point instead of something kids have to earn.They get into why kids need safe chances to make bad decisions, how sports can build independence, the value of letting kids choose their own level of competition, why teenagers need opportunities to play just for fun, and how competitive kids can learn to use that drive to make the people around them better.They also talk about exercise and ADHD, the unique benefits of repetitive sports like mountain biking, swimming and running, and why giving kids ownership over their sports experience can help them build a relationship with movement that lasts long after their competitive years are over.This episode uses mountain biking as the example, but the bigger question applies to every sport: How do we create more places where kids of different abilities, interests and goals can play, grow and belong?--------HEALTHY SPORTS PARENTING COURSEGet access at HealthySportsParenting.com.--------More from NICA:Website: https://nationalmtb.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nationalmtb/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NationalMTB/--------FROM OUR SPONSORS:Sportball Franchisinghttps://sportballfranchise.com/--------Get your Healthy Sports Parents shirts:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop---------Get your Weekend Playbook:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook-----------Follow us on social:https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparentshttps://www.facebook.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.threads.net/healthysportsparents
4. What 32 Years of Coaching Taught Me About Youth Sports (with Coach Travis Hudson, WKU Volleyball)
50:44||Season 4, Ep. 4Coach Travis Hudson has spent 32 years building Western Kentucky volleyball into one of the best mid-major programs in the country. Along the way, he’s learned a lot about what actually matters in developing athletes and raising kids through sports.In this episode, Coach Hudson and Jonathan Carone talk about why parents feel so much pressure to rush their kids to the next team or level, why development matters more than tournaments, how to know when to push your kid and when to back off, and why every child needs a different path. Coach Hudson also shares what he learned while watching his own son go from never playing a high school volleyball match to becoming the starting libero at Ohio State.More than anything, this conversation is a reminder that your kid’s sports journey doesn’t need to end with a college roster spot to be successful. There’s a lot of good happening right now if we’re willing to stop chasing what’s next long enough to see it.--------HEALTHY SPORTS PARENTING COURSEGet access at HealthySportsParenting.com.--------FROM OUR SPONSORS:Interested in sponsoring an episode?Hello@HealthySportsParents.com--------Get your Healthy Sports Parents shirts:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop---------Get your Weekend Playbook:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook-----------Follow us on social:https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparentshttps://www.facebook.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.threads.net/healthysportsparents
2. How To Raise Confident Kids Through Youth Sports (with David Epstein)
54:27||Season 4, Ep. 2David Epstein has spent years making the case for range, exploration, and giving kids time to discover what fits. His new book, Inside the Box, makes what initially sounds like the opposite argument: sometimes we need more constraints, not more options.David joins Jonathan Carone to explore what happens when you put those two ideas together in youth sports and parenting. They wrestle with some of the messier questions parents face:When does persistence become a sunk cost?How do you know when it's okay to let your kid quit?Why can immediate feedback actually make things worse?How can we give kids enough structure to grow without taking away the curiosity that helps them figure out who they want to become?It's a conversation about giving kids room to explore, challenges that help them grow, and the freedom to fail while they're figuring it all out.--------HEALTHY SPORTS PARENTING COURSEGet access at HealthySportsParenting.com.Use code SUMMER15 for 15% off before August 19.--------More from David Epstein:Website: https://davidepstein.com/Inside The Box: AMAZONInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidepstein--------FROM OUR SPONSORS:Sportball Franchisinghttps://sportballfranchise.com/Hour-a-thonhttps://www.hour-a-thon.com/--------Get your Healthy Sports Parents shirts:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop---------Get your Weekend Playbook:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook-----------Follow us on social:https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparentshttps://www.facebook.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.threads.net/healthysportsparents#youthsports #sportsparent #travelball #raisingathletes
1. What Kids Actually Need From Youth Sports (with Abby Wambach)
57:44||Season 4, Ep. 1What does it actually take for a kid to love sports for the long haul?World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Abby Wambach joins Jonathan Carone for a conversation about what happens when adults stop trying to manufacture motivation and give kids the space to discover what they actually love. They talk about the pressure inside modern youth sports, why a kid's desire has to come from within, and why reaching the highest levels isn't the only way sports can matter in a child's life.Abby also opens up about realizing that part of her own drive as a young athlete came from wanting her mom's attention and love, and what that experience has taught her about parenting and the messages kids can attach to achievement.They also dig into what girls need from sports, why relationships and belonging can be such powerful motivators, and how parents can create environments where their daughters want to keep playing.Finally, Abby shares one of the most important ideas from the conversation: sports can give parents and kids a shared language that lasts long after they're done playing.For parents raising young athletes, this conversation is a reminder that kids don't need adults to map out where sports will take them. They need the space to figure out why they want to play in the first place.--------HEALTHY SPORTS PARENTING COURSEGet access at HealthySportsParenting.com.Use code SUMMER15 for 15% off before August 19.--------More from Abby Wambach:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbywambach/Welcome To The Party podcast: https://welcometothepartyshow.com/Website: https://abbywambach.com/--------FROM OUR SPONSORS:Sportball Franchisinghttps://sportballfranchise.com/Eleven11https://eleven11teamsports.com/--------Get your Healthy Sports Parents shirts:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop---------Get your Weekend Playbook:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook-----------Follow us on social:https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparentshttps://www.facebook.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.threads.net/healthysportsparents#youthsports #sportsparent #travelball #raisingathletes
19. BONUS: Could this be the future of youth sports? (with Renata Simril, CEO of LA84 Foundation)
57:00||Season 3, Ep. 19Youth sports is one of the most influential institutions in childhood.It teaches teamwork, resilience, leadership, confidence, and community. Millions of families invest thousands of dollars and countless hours into it every year.Yet unlike schools, parks, or public health, no one is really in charge.In this episode, Jonathan sits down with Renata Simril, president and CEO of LA84 Foundation and founder of the Play Equity Fund, to discuss California's groundbreaking Youth Sports for All Act, a bipartisan effort that passed with 97% support and could reshape how youth sports are supported for generations to come.They explore why youth sports has become the "Wild West," what a state commission could actually do, why every kid deserves access to play, and what it would look like if we treated youth sports as an investment in the next generation instead of just another extracurricular activity.Whether you agree with California's approach or not, this conversation raises a bigger question every parent should be asking:What kind of youth sports system are we building for the kids who come after ours?--------HEALTHY SPORTS PARENTING COURSEGet access at HealthySportsParenting.com.Use code SUMMER15 for 15% off before August 19.--------More from Renata Simril:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renataangeleno/LA84 Foundation: https://www.la84.org/Play Equity Fund: https://www.playequityfund.org/--------FROM OUR SPONSORS:Tomahawk Shadeshttps://tomahawkshades.comCode: HSP50 for 50% off--------Get your Healthy Sports Parents shirts:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop---------Get your Weekend Playbook:https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook-----------Follow us on social:https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparentshttps://www.facebook.com/healthysportsparentshttps://www.threads.net/healthysportsparents#youthsports #sportsparent #travelball #raisingathletes
18. BONUS: 7 Things That Feel Like Bad Sports Parenting But Aren't (with Dr. Joey Case, Miami Marlins)
01:03:08||Season 3, Ep. 18Some of the healthiest things we can do as sports parents feel completely wrong in the moment.We want to correct every mistake. We want to protect our kids from failure. We want to solve their problems, give them feedback after every game, and keep them from feeling disappointed.But what if those instincts are actually getting in the way of what our kids need most?In this episode, sports psychologist Dr. Joey Case returns to discuss seven things that feel like bad sports parenting but aren't. We explore why confidence grows through struggle, how kids develop resilience, and what it looks like to support young athletes without trying to control every outcome.Topics include:• Why correcting every mistake can hurt learning and confidence• The value of letting kids fail in public• Why the car ride home is usually the wrong place for feedback• When parents should step in and when they should stay out• Why connection matters more than performance after a tough game• The surprising benefits of boredom• How to know when quitting is the wrong choice and when it's the right oneIf you've ever wondered whether you're helping your child grow or simply easing your own anxiety, this conversation is for you.The goal of sports parenting isn't protecting kids from discomfort but rather helping them develop the tools to handle discomfort when it comes.--------HEALTHY SPORTS PARENTING COURSEGet early access at HealthySportsParents.com/Course.--------More from Dr. Case:TikTok: @josephccaseInstagram: @drjosephcaseSubstack: https://josephccasepsyd.substack.com--------FROM OUR SPONSORS:Hey Coachhttps://heycoach.team/Tomahawk Shadeshttps://tomahawkshades.comCode: HSP50 for 50% off--------
16. Fun and Hard Can Both Exist in Youth Sports (with Jake Savicki)
01:01:51||Season 3, Ep. 16Youth sports are supposed to help kids grow, compete, fail, learn, and have fun. But somewhere along the way, a lot of adults started acting like fun and hard can’t both exist at the same time.In this episode of Healthy Sports Parents, Jonathan Carone sits down with former player, coach, and creator Jake Savickifor a conversation about what kids actually need from the adults around them in sports.Jake shares stories from coaching high school baseball, raising his own daughter through youth sports, and learning firsthand how much weight parents’ words, reactions, and expectations can carry. The conversation dives into why so many kids stop loving sports, how parents unintentionally add pressure, and why creating the right environment matters more than chasing the perfect development plan.Jonathan and Jake also talk about:Why fun changes as kids get olderThe difference between hard work and pressureHelping kids stay connected to the game long-termWhy comparison and FOMO lead parents into bad decisionsThe importance of understanding each kid individuallyWhat happens when kids feel safe to failWhy parents matter more than they realizeThis episode is a reminder that most kids don’t need perfect coaching, year-round training, or adults obsessing over outcomes. They need support, perspective, encouragement, and the freedom to enjoy the process of growing up through sports.--------More from Jake:TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jakesavicki?lang=enInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakesavicki/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Jake-Savicki-100066450740049/--------FROM OUR SPONSORS:Hey Coachhttps://heycoach.team/Onsideshttps://www.getonsides.com/--------